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What's Been Up With Houston Police Department Lately


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This is why we need real robo-cops. A real person (not to mention the non-Rhodes scholars who typically join police forces) can't possibly keep up with all of the laws and restrictions that come into play in all criminal scenarios. But, as we all know, robots do whatever we tell them and can be made to look much scarier that your typical shades-wearing ticket jockey.

I'm sure the Japanese will get to work developing these just as soon as they've perfected the sex robot.

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I like where you're going with this as I too think we should get into a pissing contest with China. Let's just hope this can be inflammable enough to set off the powder keg that leads to WWIII.

Eff China. Eff 'em in their 1.3 billion rear ends.

Buuuut, can I offer a word of advice first? We should finish the two wars we're currently involved in (and that China's effectively paying for) before we pick on someone our own size like China.

Historically speaking, we're better off dishing it out to China now while we still dominate the seas and they can't project power much past their borders. Sooner or later we'll find they really are the next big kid on the block and by that time our advantage will be long gone.

I'm sure the Japanese will get to work developing these just as soon as they've perfected the sex robot.

A Japanese robocop would be way too polite for American tastes.

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Anyway, HPD has been on a hell of a roll the last few years.

The crime lab, money walking out of the credit union vault with no sign of forced entry, guns back on the streets from the property room, trespassing on foreign consulate and assaulting Deputy Consul General, the recent guy caught embezzling from the credit union, excessive use of force, etc. Am I forgetting any?

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Why should he have to spend his off days? All police officers should be well-advised of areas in the city where they have no jurisdiction. These properties are foreign territory and cannot be entered except in extreme circumstances, like to save people from a fire. If police officers are prohibited from entering by international treaty, they should be advised where these places are.

Thats crap. I'd be willing to bet you don't know every facet of your job.

They deserve to be in the grease as they committed an act of war causing an international incident. China has filed a formal complaint and the State Department has opened a probe.

No, an act of war is this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_bombing_of_the_People's_Republic_of_China_embassy_in_Belgrade

Guess what? We didn't go to war over that, and we're not going to war over this. Stop being so melodramatic.

It frankly doesn't matter that he was a diplomat. They're not even allowed to follow a common American criminal onto foreign territory. Proper procedure would have been to cover the exits and notify the consulate that they had tracked a traffic violator to the consulate, and to have them confirm whether the person was a diplomat who has diplomatic immunity or a common criminal. The consulate would probably be all too happy to hand over a common criminal. The HPD officers are damned lucky that the consulate security hadn't been paying better attention, because they were well within their rights to shoot every one of these officers pursuing the Deputy Consul General.

Again with the drama. Who do you think would win in a shootout? The Houston Chinese Consulate or the historically "trigger-happy (and deadly accurate) HPD. I think even the Chinese Consulate knows to watch out for HPD in this town.

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Again with the drama. Who do you think would win in a shootout? The Houston Chinese Consulate or the historically "trigger-happy (and deadly accurate) HPD.

I think you're confusing HPD with the Bellaire PD.

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From the Chronicle (April 30):

Parker said McClelland has issued a directive that all beat officers receive the address of every consulate in the city.

Why should he have to spend his off days? All police officers should be well-advised of areas in the city where they have no jurisdiction. These properties are foreign territory and cannot be entered except in extreme circumstances, like to save people from a fire. If police officers are prohibited from entering by international treaty, they should be advised where these places are.

Thats crap. I'd be willing to bet you don't know every facet of your job.

Apparently the mayor and the chief of police take kylejack's point of view; police should be at least given an opportunity to know what they're doing, especially if it involves chasing and physically restraining people and international relations. This doesn't seem like some trivial detail - are you advocating that the police remain ignorant of the whereabouts of Houston's various consulates?

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Just to give you an idea of how extreme these treaties are: there was once a diplomat from Burma serving in Sri Lanka who shot and killed his wife for looking at another man. He took her body inside the Burmese consulate and started to build a bonfire/funeral pyre, which the neighbors reported to the police. The police came to the gate of the consulate, but he calmly told them everything was fine, reminded them that the consulate was sovereign Burmese territory, and to buzz off. Their hands were tied and there was nothing they could do as he burned her body. He was never charged with a crime.

In light of abuses of diplomatic immunity such as that, a diplomat driving off during a traffic stop is really quite a frivolous reason to breach the treaty rules on treatment of diplomats and consulates, and I just don't believe that a beat cop from the area wouldn't realize this was the consulate.

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Apparently the mayor and the chief of police take kylejack's point of view; police should be at least given an opportunity to know what they're doing, especially if it involves chasing and physically restraining people and international relations. This doesn't seem like some trivial detail - are you advocating that the police remain ignorant of the whereabouts of Houston's various consulates?

I'm sure what he meant to say is, "Ignorance of the law is no excuse... unless you're a cop."

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I'm sure what he meant to say is, "Ignorance of the law is no excuse... unless you're a cop."

What I'm wondering is how the officer got into the garage. Is there no security or gate? How did he identify his location when he called for back-up or to state that he had made an arrest. I'll concede all points if he purposely bypassed a guard or gate, and/or stated his location as the Chinese Consulate over the radio.

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In light of abuses of diplomatic immunity such as that, a diplomat driving off during a traffic stop is really quite a frivolous reason to breach the treaty rules on treatment of diplomats and consulates, and I just don't believe that a beat cop from the area wouldn't realize this was the consulate.

Was this a traffic officer or a patrol officer? The reason I ask is because if he was a traffic officer, then he doesn't patrol a beat, and would probably know little of whats in his district, beyond the best places to set his speed traps.

If this was a patrol office stopping a suspicious vehicle in his patrol area, then sure he should know, as that is his beat and he should know as much about it as possible.

There are just too many variables at this point, and I'm choosing to take the cops side since everyone else in here is one post short of accusing him of doing it because he's racist against Chinese people.

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There are just too many variables at this point, and I'm choosing to take the cops side since everyone else in here is one post short of accusing him of doing it because he's racist against Chinese people.

I'm not making any accusations of racism at this point. I just have a tendency to believe that cops abuse their position and will manhandle citizens for any variety of reasons, and racism is just one of many, many reasons.

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I'm not making any accusations of racism at this point. I just have a tendency to believe that cops abuse their position and will manhandle citizens for any variety of reasons, and racism is just one of many, many reasons.

In this forum that seems to be the position of most, which is why as much as I hate being hassled by the cops, I'll still take up for them until proof of their guilt is presented. I've never been in a town where the local police has had such a tough job (crime) with so many critics (media).

Now, if this was a motorcycle cop, then they could blindly convict him before they even start an investigation. Yes, I hate motorcycle/mounted cops that much.

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I'm not making any accusations of racism at this point. I just have a tendency to believe that cops abuse their position and will manhandle citizens for any variety of reasons, and racism is just one of many, many reasons.

You wouldn't last 5 seconds doing the job that they do. Let's live in a community where the cops are known as limp wrist tartars. There's not a one of them - "Bad" or good that would hesitate one second to give their life for you in a burning car, or the middle of a ghetto. It's evident you wouldn't help them if they pleaded. I had two police officers from HPD muscle some punk gang bangers that had threatenned my family ( my father was 87 years old at the time ). I would have paid money to watch them kick the stinkin' teeth out of those animals.

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You wouldn't last 5 seconds doing the job that they do.

Well, considering that's not what I chose to do for a living, I don't know why you brought it up. It was an interesting ad hominem though. I think we need to keep you liquored up so you'll be more fun.

Let's live in a community where the cops are known as limp wrist tartars.

I'd rather not live in a city with a corrupt and violence-prone police force. There's a time and a place where violence is necessary, mainly in response to violence, but rare is the day when violence is justified. Wanting even-tempered people to be charged with policing my community doesn't mean I want them to be pansies. I just want them to follow the same laws they're there to protect.

Also, I'm not sure what a tartar is, but I enjoy their sauce with fried shrimp.

There's not a one of them - "Bad" or good that would hesitate one second to give their life for you in a burning car, or the middle of a ghetto. It's evident you wouldn't help them if they pleaded.

And what is this evidence? The point that I generally distrust cops means I would divest myself of all my humanity in the presence of a cop? Show me the connection between those please.

I had two police officers from HPD muscle some punk gang bangers that had threatenned my family ( my father was 87 years old at the time ).

I'm detecting a pattern. When something's affected you personally, you become dogmatic in your rhetoric towards it. It's pretty pointless to even continue going on about it with you then, huh?

I would have paid money to watch them kick the stinkin' teeth out of those animals.

And then you'd have been committing a crime. Which would have made you no better than the gangbangers. In which case, I'm sure those gangbangers had mothers who would gladly have paid money to see you get your teeth kicked in by those same cops.

And had the cops been corrupt enough to take your money, doubtless they'd be corrupt enough to take the mother's money too.

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You wouldn't last 5 seconds doing the job that they do. Let's live in a community where the cops are known as limp wrist tartars. There's not a one of them - "Bad" or good that would hesitate one second to give their life for you in a burning car, or the middle of a ghetto. It's evident you wouldn't help them if they pleaded. I had two police officers from HPD muscle some punk gang bangers that had threatenned my family ( my father was 87 years old at the time ). I would have paid money to watch them kick the stinkin' teeth out of those animals.

It is entirely possible to support the efforts of the police without encouraging them to violate the rights of our citizens by beating them unnecessarily. This is not a zero sum game. Just because the police helped your dear old pa does not entitle them to then "even things up" by violating the civil rights of someone else. Some of us rather enjoy the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and the protection from government oppression it affords us. It is what makes so many residents of India, Pakistan, China and Mexico want to emigrate here, as opposed to the other way around. I'd ask you to think about that before advocating civil rights abuses by our police.

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I hate to break it to you Attica but Houston is not Mayberry. Day in and day out cops deal with the dregs of our society. And Houston has plenty of them. It's easy to develop a bad attitude when constantly dealing with drunks, gang bangers, thieves, and what not.  Are there bad cops out there? Sure, but in case you haven't noticed HPD as well as every other police department is having a very difficult time attracting new applicants because, like you, no one wants the crappy job or they are not qualified for it. It takes a special attitude to have the restraint needed for the job and there's just not that many people that have it. I know I don't. I'd probably beat the crap out of the first person that gave me an attitude or resisted arrest. 

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Hope this is a joke. The cops did not need to beat up the 15 year old kid and definitely not shoot him on the spot. From what I have read about this is that the video shows the suspect on his stomach getting beat up by eight officers and then they congratulated each other for what they did.

All the kid had to do to avoid this was NOT COMMIT CRIMES. Easy. :)

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I hate to break it to you Attica but Houston is not Mayberry.

You used to be a firefighter, right?

The reason I ask is because that job takes a special mentality too, correct? If someone doesn't have the mentality, or if they lose the mentality during the course of the work because of the difficulty of their work, wouldn't you think it better they not be on the team? Bad firefighters can lead to lost lives. So can bad cops.

Perhaps their should be a limit to the length of time someone can be a beat cop. Perhaps it'll save the good cops from become bad cops due to the apparent extreme disillusionment that comes from working in Houston versus working in Mayberry.

I think we could function considerably better with fewer, but better, cops than with a bunch of crappy cops.

Quantity =/= Quality

All the kid had to do to avoid this was NOT COMMIT CRIMES. Easy. smile.gif

Do you know he committed a crime?

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I'm surprised they didn't know where the Chinese consulate is. In fact I have a hard time believing it. I know where it is and I live no where near it and rarely travel that part of Montrose.

I've always been a big supporter of the police but I've seen Houston police do things that scared me. I literally tip-toed away from the scene out of fear that the cops, knowing what I had seen would do something to me.

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It doesnt matter if I know or not. He was arrested for a reason. And I'm sure it wasnt because he was jaywalking.

People get arrested because they are suspects in a crime. Sometimes they did the crime and sometimes they didn't.

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I'm wondering if anyone here remembers what HPD was like in the 70s. Not to say there isn't always room for improvement, but things have changed (for the better) considerably since then. And things have changed since Ida Lee Delaney was shot and killed in 1989. I'll never forget talking to a Hispanic beat cop in a bar right after Delaney's death - when the subject came up, he smiled and said, half-jokingly, "That's what happens when you give a Mexican a gun."

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You used to be a firefighter, right?

The reason I ask is because that job takes a special mentality too, correct? If someone doesn't have the mentality, or if they lose the mentality during the course of the work because of the difficulty of their work, wouldn't you think it better they not be on the team? Bad firefighters can lead to lost lives. So can bad cops. 

But it's a different kind of mentality. Few firefighters want to be cops and vice-versa.

I think we could function considerably better with fewer, but better, cops than with a bunch of crappy cops.

Quantity =/= Quality

Totally agree but that would require a big increase in pay and some way to attract more educated personnel and I just don't see it happening. 

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But it's a different kind of mentality. Few firefighters want to be cops and vice-versa.

Still, would you want someone on your team who'd lost his nerve, or in some other way didn't have all the necessary mental faculties to perform his job as intended. I know firefighting's a team effort, and if even one member of your team sucked at his job, it could cost lives. The same is true of cops, so we as citizens shouldn't accept sub-par performance and write it off and accept it as just being caused by job-related stress. Maybe there can be some form of stress management classes so the good cops can stay good cops. Post-Hassan in Ft Hood, the army has taken a much stronger interest in PTSD counseling, and perhaps HPD can do something similar.

Totally agree but that would require a big increase in pay and some way to attract more educated personnel and I just don't see it happening.

It's tough to change the general public's opinion that more cops equals good. I know I give the impression that I think all cops are bad, but I don't really feel that way. I just know many of them are, though still probably fewer than 10%. I think a purge of all the bad cops would be good. Many corporations have used this down economy to eliminate bad or redundant employees. There's no reason the City of Houston can't do the same.

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It is entirely possible to support the efforts of the police without encouraging them to violate the rights of our citizens by beating them unnecessarily. This is not a zero sum game. Just because the police helped your dear old pa does not entitle them to then "even things up" by violating the civil rights of someone else. Some of us rather enjoy the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and the protection from government oppression it affords us. It is what makes so many residents of India, Pakistan, China and Mexico want to emigrate here, as opposed to the other way around. I'd ask you to think about that before advocating civil rights abuses by our police.

A point well taken Red, and so appreciated. I am so proud to be an American, and more importantly, to be free of opression. Sometimes I forget the point of my father & mother, who sacrificed everything to bring us here as children. They knew the great test of this nation, and, you are absolutely right, my father would have called me down just as you have. I suppose we all are like spoiled children, who want it their way. Thank you for your courtesy to the United States law itself, by presenting such in it's idealism.

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